Last night was so much fun. We celebrated Thanksgiving at my Mom’s house with my two sisters, their husband and husband-to-be and my nephew Dylan. I probably had a few too many Cape Cods, but playing Loaded Questions at midnight with everyone was exceptionally hilarious. Now to the dinner! My sister Nadia (the vegan firefighter) had the idea of just buying the whole meal from Mr. Natural in Austin. I love Mr. Natural (here’s why), so I was thrilled to know I could enjoy all the dishes served at Thanksgiving! For those of you who may think a Vegan Thanksgiving isn’t “really thanksgiving”, eat your heart out:

Mr. Natural Thanksgiving Dinner

For me, Thanksgiving is about family, delicious food and appreciating all the wonderful things life brings. I have to admit that I recycled my Thanksgiving prayer from the Walley Thanksgiving, but it was still true:

“We’ve gathered together to celebrate family and to give thanks for all of our blessings. Thank you for (enter nephew’s name), for food and for marriage!”

Mark and I are agnostic, but both our families say a prayer before dinner. Mark’s mom has asked me to say the prayer for the last several years, so I came prepared and repeated it yesterday also. The marriage part was thrown in there because Mark and I just got married this year and both Mark’s brother and my sister are getting married next year. We also both have adorable baby nephews that we are very thankful for. The meal was so delicious. My favorite parts were the pinto bean tamales, mashed potatoes, whole wheat rolls and my stuffing!

Two of my favorite things: Basil and Pecans

I baked bread a few nights ago and used it to make stuffing on Thanksgiving Day and yesterday. I got this Easy Vegan Wheat Bread recipe on Vegweb.com. I shared the simple recipe for my stuffing in yesterday’s post but here are some photos of how I put it together.

Chopping up Homemade Bread

I just chopped up fresh basil and whole wheat bread and sautéed it together in a pan with olive oil. I also added raisins, cranberries, mushrooms and pecans.

Vegan Cranberry Walnut Stuffing

We have a couple of traditions in our family, one is to forget something in the kitchen after we have all sat down. This year is was the whole wheat rolls, but luckily they just got nice a crispy but didn’t burn. A more recent tradition is to take family portraits each year after dinner. This year we did so in front of the newly decorated Christmas tree. We’ve been doing this since 2008 when Mark and I first got our camera.

Mark and I are very thankful!

I’m so proud of my whole family for coming together and enjoying a vegan meal. Now I’m off to celebrate Thanksgiving with my dad, but I don’t know how much more pumpkin pie I can take!

xo angie